The pictures above offer a glimpse of what our emergency food support looked like last week. And due to the disastrous pandemic in our midst and the necessary adjustments we are making to our mission delivery, the photos below are what our emergency support looks like this week. Our commitments to our twin goals of cultivating community and alleviating hunger are unwavering, even in such an uncertain time.
We know your news feed has been flooded with heartbreak and hard knocks this week —school closures, small business shutdowns, Covid-19 stats, and a tumbling economy. We also know information is important, and we’re grateful our community is taking social distancing seriously. Indeed, we announced last Friday that we have suspended volunteer activities in our kitchens and gardens for the health and safety of all involved.
The blows our Middle Tennessee neighbors have endured since the beginning of March have been enormous. Our local community is entering into the coronavirus pandemic already tired, afraid, economically strapped, and needing each other’s physical presence more than ever. The calls for social distancing are in direct conflict with our mission “to bring people together,” but our staff are soldiering on to nourish our community in these changing times with our actions, inaction, love, and prayers. Please keep them in your thoughts as they navigate ways to provide uninterrupted support to our partners and neighbors, while caring for their own families, and meeting what feels like urgent and growing need for the most basic of things - nutritious food.
As we all feel our way into what the coming weeks and months look like, we want to share some of the relief and recovery work we continue to support after Nashville’s recent storms devastated vibrant pockets of our city.
As of today, The Nashville Food Project has prepared and shared a total of 15,636 nutritious meals since March 3rd, 2020. These meals were distributed to our regular partners who have remained open, and of that total number, 8,470 meals were emergency meals shared with recovery sites in North Nashville, Hermitage, Mt, Juliet, East Nashville, Donelson, American Red Cross' staging hub, and the NES substations around town. Check out this letter of love and thanks - that was delivered along with a generous cash donation - from a local NES crew. A member of the NES meter department came by the office to say, "Thank you all for making us feel seen and appreciated. It meant a lot to us. Thank you for all you do." Our Distribution Manager Elke, who received the card and donation said to us later, "He would've hugged me, but I got an elbow bump instead."
This week and weekend, our staff is preparing and sharing 125 daily, hot lunches to New Covenant Christian Church in North Nashville, a church who is serving as a resource distribution center in the neighborhood. We have also mobilized to prepare 50-100 weekly meals for Fifty Forward's Bordeaux location, 80 weekday meals to Martha O'Bryan Center serving the Cayce community, as well as 1,200 hot meals per weekend, for families each Saturday and Sunday in the coming month to support Gideon's Army's work in North Nashville, in conjunction with Hands on Nashville.
For so many of us - whether we are employees, volunteers, garden participants, or meal guests—the daily or weekly interactions we have at The Nashville Food Project are such an important part of the rhythm of our lives, a place to sow our hope, a place to belong. In the coming days and weeks let us know what you’re up to and reflecting on! Tag us as you wade through your pantry and freezers. Show us the seeds you are starting this Spring. Share your hope.
With love and gratitude for every expression of community,
WAYS YOU CAN HELP:
While we continue to respond to the changing needs of our community, financial donations are The Nashville Food Project's greatest need. DONATE NOW.
Cultivate Community
Help us share encouragement during this time of isolation by sending postcards for elderly neighbors to our office at 5904 California Avenue, Nashville, TN 37209. We'll get them out to meal guests as we share meals with our senior-serving partners.
Support Local Restaurants
Support our restaurant and farmer friends who have supported us so generously. This includes buying gift cards, ordering take-out meals, enrolling for CSA shares, and reaching out to senators and representatives to request aid for these industries.
Create a Little Food Pantry
In the vein of "Little Libraries" consider building or converting your own to a "Little Food Pantry" with non-perishable foods to share with neighbors who may have need. Invite folks to add any of their excess non-perishable foods, and spread the word through social media and the Nextdoor app.